Overall Member Rating

Started The Year Off With A Bang!

This was my third cruise with Norwegian and was really excited. I traveled with my family: mom, dad, and sister this time to the Western Caribbean. The Norwegian Jewel is such a fabulous ship. It's bright, vibrant, and full of energy. We left NY and had a layover in TX before arriving in Ft. Lauderdale Saturday night. We arrived at the Port of Miami Sunday morning and waited inside the cruise terminal for about 30 minutes before numbers were being called. (They tell you not to arrive early because you won't be allowed to enter the terminal, but it was already pretty full when we got there.)

When we boarded the ship we were greeted with champagne or orange juice for the non-alcoholic drinkers. We chose to eat in Azura's because we thought the buffet would have been crowded. (In the past there was only one buffet line, but I'll explain later what was VERY different about the Norwegian Jewel). We had a delicious lunch and then waited around one of the lounge areas until we were More
able to go to out room. We got a mini suite and it was really very nice inside. The room was big enough that two people could walk around without feeling crushed. The bathroom was big and had a bathtub/shower! The room came with a lot of drawers and a huge closet. Also there was a big bed and a couch which transformed into a couch bed at night. This wasn't one of this you sink into, it was hard, but I got a good night sleep each night. Also on our floor was the Bridge Viewing Window which was really neat to see. It was on Deck 11 and it was opened from Sunrise to Sunset.

The ship itself is really nice and though it feels a bit big a times (I got lost a couple of times, I can't imagine what the EPIC will feel like with I believe 24 levels!) For meals we ate in the Garden Cafe mostly for breakfast, lunch and one dinner. The Garden Cafe was amazing in the fact that it had several food stations and not that one line everyone has to get into for food. It had a salad, soup, grill, ethnic cuisine, Asian, and even a bar station. The food was pretty much the same each day, but I never got the same thing twice. I enjoyed the diff. food stations and got to try a lot of different food. Tsar's and Azura is where I dined in the most on the ship, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Tsar's since it's designed after a Russian Palace. We also tried out Tango's which was really actually good. They serve you chips and three salsas in the place of bread and you also get a complimentary Margarita, (although I'm pretty sure half the cover charge is for the margaritas) I had the Lobster taco's and they were fabulous! Huge chunks of lobster in a cream sauce with some grilled veggies.

At night we went to the daily shows: Mary Ellen Hooper, Ken Groves, and Kranz Powell. Mary Ellen is the funniest person you will ever meet! She was so quick with her jokes about everything and everyone. We saw her one night sitting alone in the Garden Cafe and went up to her and complimented her on the show, and she was really appreciative of our comments. Ken Groves is a ventriloquist much like Jeff Dunham. George is his Peanut and Howard is his Walter. I thought he was really funny and at the end of his show he took photos with everyone and his puppets. Kranz Powell is a musician who sings, dances and plays the trumpets in his show. I thought he was a bit over the top, should have done one of them and not all at the same time! We also went to the Liar's Club which had Mary Ellen, Ken, and Que the Cruise Director. Although it turned out to be a competition against Ken and MaryEllen it was funny. Who knew that lob cock meant a boring and dull person, which MaryEllen called Ken numerous times during the night.

The public areas of the ship were clean and vibrant as well. Bright colored carpets with funky colors and designs. They even had karaoke/wii rooms which if you were lucky to get a room, were pretty fun. They had karaoke and Wii sports. I spent a few hours with my family playing Wii. I can't wait to cruise with Norwegian again because it's freestyle and you never have to be anywhere and you don't have to dress up. Although shorts aren't allowed in any restaurants, lots of people never followed the rule. They want you to relax and not worry about what to wear I guess. Overall I would give the cruise a 9/10 stars! Less

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Cabin review:

Port and Shore Excursions

OK so on to Belize City. We had to tender in that day, and although it took about 30 minutes into the city, it didn't seem that long. I really didn't like the port in Belize City. It was crowded with shops and people. There were 3 cruise ships that day and it was just so busy, we did our tour and didn't spend anytime looking. We did the Land Rover and Jungle River cruise. We took this military looking bus to this secluded "farm" they called it and were briefed about the cave and the trail to the cave. It rained the day before we were told, so the trail all the way to the cave was slippery and very muddy. I forgot to mention, there's a rope bridge to get across to the trail, which I was not excited about again. Once at the cave it was a huge hike up rocks and slippery surface, I'm surprised I didn't fall! Once inside the cave you're told to put your headlight on, which isn't very bright. The cave is above ground so it's steaming hot! There were tight crevices, bumps and low stalagmites which you could bump into at any given moment. Halfway through the cave, we were told there was a chamber up ahead filled with bats and other animals. You had to crouch or crawl several times to get to it. My family decided not to do that part because it seemed a bit hard, and plus I was really weak from climbing up into the cave. We were escorted back to the entrance where 5 other people were waiting. After the cave was over, we walked on the same path AND going over the rope bridge again.

Next we were told we would have to DRIVE ourselves in the land rover following a guide in the front of the pack. We were split up into groups. No one in my family knew how to drive stick, so someone from another group volunteered to drive for us. Because of the rain, there were huge mud puddles and the trails we were riding on were flooded all over the place. This took about 45 minutes. the next 30 minutes were on back roads leading to the river where we would take the jungle cruise to. At the jungle cruise, we were served lunch: rice, chicken, and coleslaw all made by the local people. It was good food, but I felt weird going up for more seeing that they were feeding their children the leftovers, so I didn't get anything else. We were told we could have 15 mins. to swim in the river. Once on the boat we were served rum punch. Let me tell you this, the ride starts off quiet and calm, and you think this is nice. Then it becomes this high speed boat on the river which is still fine. THEN our guide is like, "look straight ahead, that's the Caribbean Ocean, we're riding on that!" The water was VERY choppy and even though we were speeding, I felt like it was going to tip over. At one point he slowed down to show us that we had to speed and when he did we got soaked by the waves. Once on dry land I was relieved that the tour was over.

I did enjoy the cave because I've never been in one that big, but the boat ride and the land rovers weren't exacly my cup of tea.

Costa Maya is a bright port with straw hideaways and local Mayan history. We docked and had to walk a bit to the entrance of the welcome area. I didn't like the shops that much at port, the people were kind of pushy, but I did find some bargains in this one store where the people just sat around. If you needed help you had to go up to them, no one was pushing items to you. We did the Chaccobben ruins which were pretty cool. It was an hour bus ride to the ruins and back. The ruins are really big and you get to walk on a few of them. The big one is the sun palace which you can either do the 42 steps or another small one which consists of 15 steps to a plaza which features 2 medium sized temples. We got to spend 30 minutes taking pictures. I got some souvenirs from the locals there who were very friendly and didn't push anything onto you. It was also VERY buggy there so I advise you to bring bug spray. We didn't have any, so we had to buy some and were lucky to get the last can! The port had a nice beach you could go to and this public swimming pool with a poolside bar. If you're a beach person you would like it here a lot, me I rather explore then sit on a beach.

Roatan was our first stop and I was really impressed with it. When you think of Central America you think of green mountains, dirt roads, and quaint towns. That was exactly what Roatan is. The ship docks right in the welcome area which has a few stops but nothing too extreme. We did the Gumbalimba/Tabyana Beach excursion. We left the ship and boarded an air conditioned bus which took us to Gumbalimba. Our knowledgeable tour guide talked about the city. Even though it was struck by a hurricane a few years ago, it's getting back on its feet. The roads were clean and VERY windy and hilly. Gumbalimba Park is nice, but they make you buy a locker once you get there since they claim the monkeys will take everything that's on you. We did the tour which included the infamous walk across the rope bridge. I don't like heights, and I don't even like looking over bridges when I'm in a car, so the rope bridge was not my cup of tea. They tell you to walk in the middle and that it will sway from side to side, but it's scary not having anything really solid under your feet except some wood with gaps in between it. The monkey sanctuary was fun and they didn't steal anything from people. They jumped around on top of your head.

Tabyana Beach was a really clean beach. I was surprised how soft the sand was and really how clean everything was. Our tour included a buffet lunch: hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, rice, salad, coleslaw, and condiments. The food was served pretty much all day. It rained for a while when I was there, but it was a really nice day otherwise.